For people with a large roof or field the new FIT (Feed-in Tariff) has made installing your own PV system a very safe and reliable means of investing money.

The UK is committed by law to supply 15% of its energy from renewable resources by 2020 and the FIT is part of a legal statute called the Clean Energy Cash Back Scheme launched by the government in April 2010 that guarantees investors a fixed payment for all the electricity they generate from their solar PV. Although the payment is fixed in law it is administered by the electricity supply companies and is generated from a levy on all other customers – this means that it cannot be diverted by the government to fund other areas.

In April 2012 the FIT scheme will be reviewed and possibly decreased, but for investors who install a system before that date the payment they sign up to is guaranteed for 25 years and will rise in line with inflation.
The FITs that are available now are considered to be very attractive and are generally equivalent to a guaranteed 8-9% return on investment for the next 25 years.  You will be paid between 29.3p and 41.3p for every kwh of electricity you generate depending on the size of the system you install (a kwh is the same as a unit of electricity). The FIT rates are lower for larger systems to reflect the savings made when installing a larger system.